The
Best Towns In California to Live In
A listing of the towns with the lowest population and crime rates and
the highest education ratings

While THE
BEST PLACE IN THE USA TO LIVE
was an interesting page to research, it didn't provide practical
alternatives for my family because moving to the city identified in
it would mean moving away from the rest of our relatives. The
solution was to repeat the study but this time limit it to our
family's home state of California. This page presents what I
discovered using primarily the information available on:

http://cgi.money.cnn.com/best/bplive

http://www.city-data.com/city/California.html

The
First Cut:

The
first step was to establish the primary criteria, which I selected
to be low pollution and crime rates. For reference, the average US
pollution level is 100 with the lowest being 11 for Barrington,
Illinois. The averages for Los Angeles and New York are 101 and 116,
respectively. I'm suspicious of these numbers because my own home
town has a pollution score of 96, just slightly lower than Los
Angeles, yet the air here is consistently much clearer and easier to
breath than L.A. The average California crime rate is up around 140
with the lowest US being Islip, New York at 4. Los Angeles has a
crime rate of 353 and New York is 270.

The
top fifteen California cities with the lowest pollution and crime
rates are:

Town
Name.....Pop....House.....Pollution.....Crime.....Annual.....High........Low................................Cost.........................Rate......Rainfall....Temp......Temp

San
Ramon......50K.....$650K...........85.............58...........24...........85...........39

The
Second Cut:

The
next step was to select towns from the list above with reasonable
housing costs and those located near, but not in, a large
metropolitan area. That reduced the list to four. I then looked up
data on the percent of students graduating from high school, the
percentage of adults with Bachelors or higher degrees and the
percentages of the major ethnicities. Since the house prices above
were taken from 2000 - 2003 averages, I also visited several current
real estate sites to get a more accurate feel for what current (Fall
of 2005) house costs were running for a 2000 square foot single
family house with 4 bedrooms and three bathrooms. Finally, I
researched the percent of people unemployed.

Town
Name...High...College.,House..Unemployed...White...Hispanic.....African..................School...Grad......Cost.........................Rate..Ra......all.....American......Tem..........Grad.................2005

Aliso
Viejo is located south of Los Angeles a few miles from the beach.
Almost completely surrounded by parks and with golf courses on its
northern and southern boundaries on paper it appears an almost
perfect town for raising a family. The other three towns are located
just east of Sacramento. Of these Shingle Springs is unique in that
every single real estate listing I found was for a house located on 1
to 5 acres of land, suggesting that is a more rural setting than the
other towns.

For
a young family interested in a community with the highest education
standards, clean air and very low unemployment and crime rates as
well as affordable housing, El Dorado Hills near Sacramento looks to
be the optimum choice..........

The
Final
Cut: First-Hand
Looks at Each Town

While
the four towns that made it to the final list all look good on
paper, up close and in person they may not appear as desirable. This
section will report on what I discovered when I visited each one.

Aliso
Viejo:

Located
just south of Laguna Hills, Aliso Viejo is virtually surrounded by
parks and golf courses. The town itself is extremely neat and clean
with roads that appeared well maintained and are adequite for the traffic.
I didn't see a single sign of graffiti or vandelizm during my 1-hour
drive through the city.

Aliso
Viejo is located in very hilly terrain, with houses and apartments
terraced up the sides of the hills. The roads are laid out well so
that unlike San Francisco you seldom have to drive up or down steep streets.

During
my tour I drove by at least 50 houses and apartments. Each and every
one had the principle structure in impeccable condition and the yards
were universally very well maintained. No one had a let their yard go
weedy, die back, or even need mowing. This suggests a city-wide
appreciation for the importance of maintaining property values
through responsibly taking care of houses and grounds. This is to be
expected because the average house runs well over $700,000 and no one
willing to invest that much is likely to let it deteriorate.

I
did not see a single run-down neighborhood anywhere I went.

Although
the natural landscape for this area is scrub brush, the town and all
surrounding areas are well watered so that the net impression is that
the city was built in a lush garden. The weather is mild year-round.
The beach is only 2 miles away as a crow flies, though the only way
to drive there is around a park and golf course and takes six miles.

Aliso
Viejo is a small town and the main shopping center near its center
is only an outdoor affair with a Ralphs, Lowes, TJ Max, Micheals,
PetsMart, and several other medium-sized stores. There is also a
21-screen multiplex and a moderate selection of fast and full-survice
restaurants. Howevery, there are three large malls within a 20 minute
drive from the heart of Aliso Viejo.

The
biggest downside to Aliso Viejo for some people might be that it
feels crowded. The houses are almost universally compact, two-story
affairs on extremely tiny lots. Most back yards are little more that
small patios. Many front yards are only a few square feet of grass
between the sidewalk and front door. The sides of the houses are only
a few feet appart, so close they almost look like duplexes. Much of
the housing is apartments or condominiums. The overall impression is
that even in areas dominated with single family dwellings it feels
like a city of townhouses jammed together cheek-by-jowl.

The
average 2,000 sqaure foot house sold for $800,000 in 2005.
Comparable condominiums run $100,000 or so less. Larger houses up to
4,000 square feet can be had for $1,800,000. Apartments run around
$1,200 per month for 650 square feet to $2,100 for 1,100 square feet.

A
typical street of single-family dwellings.

A
typical house in Aliso Viejo. This style is so dominant thatmany
areas give the impression of being tract housing. I didn'tsee
a single, one-story house, though I'm sure there are some.

Shingle
Springs:

Coming
soon.

Eldorado
Hills:

Coming
soon.

Folsom:

Coming
soon.

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